Headline: A Yemeni judge ordered police Saturday to find a radical U.S.-born cleric "dead or alive" . The man in question, Anwar al-Awlaki, is already on the CIA's kill or capture list.
Those on the left will say Obama's rapproachement with Islam works.
Those on the right will say Bush's attack on the Taliban (the Afghan government which protected Al Queda) was noted by the Yemeni govt.
Perhaps the combo works well.
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Sunday, November 7, 2010
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OK, here's some psycho-babble for you. I've often wondered the extent to which our individual political opinions are not really so self-determined but rather guided by an innate sense of our place in the American collective consciousness. So, for example, while I might be a hawk, I might on some level appreciate that there are doves to balance the overall discourse. What's more, perhaps my subconscious drives me toward hawkishness because I sense some imbalance in the body politic, a slight but still precarious leaning toward dovishness, that needs to corrected. This is a sort of "wisdom of crowds" view of what drives collective opinions, a view of why the group opinion is often smarter than any of its parts. (For an interesting read on this subject I highly recommend The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki.)
ReplyDeleteOK whatever. My main point is: Reading the outcomes of the past several elections, our collective American message to the Islamic world might really be the working "good cop bad cop" combo Wayne suggests. Crudely put: We were crazy enough to elect George W. Bush twice. And we might just do again. He has a brother.
One other thought along these lines... Perhaps the anti-war, bring 'em home drumbeat the sounded throughout the mid-to-late 2000's was an effective counterbalance to Bush's commitment to staying the course in Iraq? (Effective at keeping the political leadership focussed on the possibility that we really might just up and leave, effective at keeping the enemy guessing about American intentions.)
ReplyDeleteI give credit to FedEx. A threat to not accept packages from Yemen probably trumps Bush and Obama.
ReplyDelete